Godiva

Godiva, The Walking Company and Soma Intimates are three of several new tenants that have committed to opening new stores inside the Mall at University Town Center.

Soma, a women’s lingerie store; The Walking Company, a shoe and sandal retailer; Godiva, the longstanding chocolate company; will open new stores inside the mall being built at Interstate 75 and University Parkway. The national retailers join Boston Proper and Williams Sonoma, which filed building permits last week to build new stores inside the 880,000-square-foot mall.

Soma Intimates operates several stores in Southwest Florida already – a store on Main Street in Lakewood Ranch, another on St. Armands Circle, a third inside Westfield Group’s Southgate Mall, and an outlet store inside the Ellenton Premium Outlets. The Walking Company has stores on St. Armands Circle and inside Southgate Mall, among other high end malls across the state.

This is the first Godiva location in Southwest Florida, although the sweets chain has other existing stores in the Tampa Bay market.

Soma and The Walking Company aren’t the first St. Armands retailers to show interest in expanding into the new mall. Boston Proper and others, have already committed to the new mall.

Coldstone Creamery, a national chain of ice cream shops with franchise locations, will also open up shop inside the new mall.

This slew of retailers join several other national brands – like Gymboree, Express, American Eagle Outfitters and Foot Locker, that have committed to opening an additional store in Southwest Florida market. Taubman Centers expects to open in October with 100 in-line tenants, including several that are new to the market, like Omega watch boutique, Apple, Anthropologie and Edward Beiner.

The $315 million mall project being developed by Manatee County-based Benderson Development and Taubman Centers, is the only enclosed mall scheduled to open this year in the U.S.

Photo by Dan Wagner, Herald-Tribune staff

For more shopping news in Southwest Florida, follow reporter Justine Griffin on Twitter and Facebook or email her at justine.griffin@heraldtribune.com. Read What’s In Store in print on Tuesdays.